iDon't Love You, But I Always Will
by WillowEchoRiver
Summary: A less than great guy is showing an interest in Sam, and Freddie doesn't like it. But could his attempts to stop Samantha from dating said guy ruin not only their friendship, but also iCarly? Seddie. Rated K Plus.
1. Chapter One: iThink He's After Her

**Author's Note: Hey guys! This is my first iCarly fanfiction. I hope you enjoy it. The Seddie Arc never happened in this world (though I do love the Seddie Arc…) So, originally this was going to be a oneshot with just the ending of the story. But I decided to make it a chapter fic and see how it worked out. I hope you enjoy it! I'm eager to see what you think!**

**Also: Jack Hutchins is an original character. He and his name were just made up. Any similarities to real people is entirely a coincidence. (Because I googled the name and actual results came up. Jack Hutchins in this story is completely fictional.)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly. The title comes from the song Poison and Wine, by the wonderful Civil Wars.**

**iDon't Love You (But I Always Will)**

**Chapter One: iThink He's After Her**

Jack Hutchins was trouble. First, there was his appearance. He was the sort of guy that at one look Mrs. Benson would have put three more deadbolts on her front door. He dressed in leather, had tattoos of grotesque images on his arms, had at least five piercings in each ear, and one on his lip. His hair was dyed black, and he wore dark eyeliner.

And that was just his appearance. He didn't just dress the bad boy, as some liked to do. He was bad inside and out. He slept through class on a regular basis, and when he wasn't doing that he was bad mouthing the teacher. Outside of class, he was egging teacher's cars and stealing lunch money off freshmen.

But he was also, somehow, a ladies man. Despite the fact that he was very clearly a jerk, as soon as he singled out a lady to woo, he could do it no problem. 19 years old and still a junior, Jack Hutchins was one to avoid. On his good side? He manipulated you. On his bad? He made your life a nightmare.

And Freddie was pretty sure he was after Sam.

Freddie didn't know why, but he seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to Samantha Puckett. Not in the 'I See Dead People' kind of way, but the 'I Think That Guy Likes Her' sort of way. He didn't know why he was so attuned to it, and frankly, it kind of freaked him out. True, sometimes guys were really obvious, but there had been times when not even Carly had sniffed it out before him.

Anyway, Freddie had seen different guys and their different methods of going after Sam. Most of the really naïve ones tried to be perfect gentlemen, trying to carry her books or buying her flowers. And while most girls loved that, Sam did not. Those guys usually got beat up pretty quickly and were sent running. Then there was the opposite kind, the guys who tried to get her attention by becoming pranksters or class clowns or joining the wrestling team. Those guys tried too hard, and Sam didn't like guys who tried to be her competition. So far, the only guys he had seen have any real chance with Sam were the ones who just acted like themselves.

But Jack was different. He was, well, _smooth_. And he was definitely trying to get Sam's attention.

And after much evaluation of the situation, Freddie was concerned that Hutchins might be dangerously close to succeeding. And Freddie wanted him _nowhere_ near Sam.

He didn't know when he had become so protective of his best frenemy, and he didn't know why it happened either. He just knew he cared. A lot. And, over his dead body would Jack Hutchins date Sam Puckett.

One day Freddie was sitting in the back of row of math class. He'd arrived late because he'd slept through his alarm and missed the bus, his mom was at work and he'd had to beg Spencer for a ride, and Spencer wouldn't leave until he finished gluing a frying pan to the head of a sculpture. When he'd finally arrived, Freddie hadn't wanted to draw a lot of attention to himself, so he'd slipped into the back row. And, given his usual timeliness, his teacher didn't call him out on it.

But he couldn't focus during class. Only ten minutes after he arrived he saw Hutchins (a few rows ahead) reach over to the next row and tap Sam on the shoulder, handing her a note.

Sam opened it and fought a grin. Stuffing the note in her pocket, she raised her hand.

The teacher looked surprised. "Yes, Sam?" (he had abandoned all pretense of Miss Puckett months ago. Sam was 'Miss' to nobody.)

"Right. Well, if what you're saying is true, and it's as _simple_ as all that, why hasn't my buddy Jack here been able to graduate, yet?" Sam was grinning broadly, and Jack exploded with laughter.

Freddie didn't get the joke. The rest of the class didn't seem to get it either.

Sam and Jack had inside jokes, now?

"Maybe if Mr. Hutchins spent a little more time paying attention in class and a little less time passing notes he would have graduated by now." The teacher replied, before pretending he'd never been interrupted and continuing with his lecture.

Sam and Jack burst out laughing again. Freddie still didn't get it.

The chuckles of the two didn't die down till ten minutes had passed, and then Jack passed Sam another note. When she read it, she grinned, turned slightly in her seat so she could reach behind her and stomp on his foot, before turning back towards the teacher, a wide smile on her face.

After class, Freddie approached Sam and Carly, who were still picking up their bags. Jack plopped his books onto Sam's desk and smirked.

"Mind carrying these, Puckett? My foot seems to have been stomped on."

"Carry your own books, Hutchins." Sam said, folding her arms and grinning.

"Aww, don't be that way. Come on!"

"No!" She laughed.

"Ah, well, next time then. See you." He said, still smirking as he grabbed his books and swept away.

Sam, much to Freddie's relief, didn't watch him leave. Instead, she turned and scooped up her backpack, flinging it over her shoulder. "Let's get outta here. This room smells like burritos and Mama won't have lunch for two hours."

Freddie glanced at Carly to see if she'd seemed to notice anything odd about Jack's and Sam's interaction. But she seemed completely unconcerned. Maybe he was imagining things…

But, then again, he'd never been wrong about this before.

**Author's Note: So, it's been a really long time since I've written fanfiction, and… It's so good to be back. That was insanely fun to write, so I hope you enjoyed it. Again, first iCarly fic. I hope they weren't OOC or anything. Please read and review? I love constructive criticism. You guys rock for reading this far!**


	2. Chapter Two: iSpy A Jerk

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly.**

**Chapter Two: iSpy A Jerk**

One day, later that week, Freddie got home from school and dropped his backpack off inside his house. His mom was at work and they would be rehearsing for iCarly later that afternoon, so Freddie decided just to go right over to Carly's.

When he entered the Shay's apartment he found Carly sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by homework. He glanced around. "Hey, Carly. No Sam?" He asked her, keeping his tone carefully unconcerned.

"Oh, hey Freddie." Carly offered him a smile, closing the book she'd been pouring over a moment before. She pushed her chair back, "No. She's out with a friend."

She got to her feet, going towards the counter to pour herself a cup of lemonade. "Want some?"

"No, thanks." He shook his head. "What friend?"

"Jack Hutchins." Carly replied carefully. Her voice was light, but Freddie could hear that she was trying to sound particularly casual, as he had a moment before.

Freddie stood by the counter and watched Carly carefully. "Doesn't that worry you a little?"

"Why should it?" Carly asked, widening her eyes innocently.

"Carly, you know exactly why. It can't be good for Sam to…get involved with someone like him." He hated having to talk like this. For so long he and Sam spent their lives pretending to hate each other, and he knew Carly knew he cared, but saying it was a different matter altogether.

"She's not going to _get involved_ with him. They're just friends."

"No. I know him. He likes her."

"But she doesn't like hiiimmmmm." Carly said in a sing song voice.

"How do you know?" He asked, folding his arms and feeling entirely unconvinced.

"I just know. Now, would you stop interrogating me?" She sat back down at the kitchen table and opened her math book once more.

Freddie sat down on the couch, recognizing that he had been dismissed. He turned on the TV, but he wasn't really paying attention to it. After about five minutes of silence, he spoke. "You don't… Think they are doing anything illegal, do you?" He had this mental image of Sam and Hutchins spray painting buildings or egging teachers' cars or breaking into a convenience store.

Carly looked at him, shaking her head, "I already texted her. They're just at the Groovy Smoothie."

Freddie was a little relieved, but he still spent the better part of an hour fidgeting in discomfort.

00000

The door burst open and a laughing Sam entered the apartment, but she was not alone. Jack was with her. He was chuckling and had a grin on his face that Freddie thought made him look just a little too pleased with himself.

Carly looked as surprised as Freddie felt when Sam came in with Jack.

"Hey guys, Jack and I had an idea for a new bit on iCarly." Sam told them enthusiastically, as she flung her backpack at Jack, who caught it easily. Sam half ran to the fridge. "Oh, Carly, you bought more ham! You wonderful friend, you."

"Someone's perky today." Carly raised her eyebrows.

"Mama loves ham." Sam said, her mouth full.

Carly shrugged, "So what's this idea for iCarly?"

"Wait a minute," Freddie said, holding up a hand to stop the conversation. "We already have a full episode planned for this week."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. We all know that interview with Mayor Mustacheo was just filler."

"I liked that interview!"

"Now, wait a second, why don't you just tell us the idea." Carly said, stopping the argument before it started.

Sam grinned and collapsed on the couch. "So. It's a play on Mario Bros. right? So, Carly is the damsel in distress (Princess Peach) and Freddie and Gibby are Mario and Luigi, right? But we can call them Max and Lego or something. So, Bowser, who will also be renamed for the sake of irony, played by the one and only Jack Hutchins—" She motioned to Jack, who gave a theatrical bow. "Will eat Max and Lego for breakfast, and, of course, the princess will be eaten too!"

Freddie didn't think it sounded that funny, and Carly looked skeptical too. "What will you do?" She asked.

"I'll be the narrator, of course." She lowered her voice theatrically, and said, grinning, "And then the evil turtle attacked!" She launched herself off the couch and jumped Jack, who grinned as she ruffled his hair jokingly.

Freddie felt annoyed. He couldn't exactly place why, but the exchange bothered him. He glanced at Carly with a 'Didn't I tell you?' look. She shook her head, looking confused.

"I guess it sounds better than the Mayor Mustacheo interview…" Carly conceded, nodding. "Let's go write a script."

0000

As lame as it had sounded in the beginning, the sketch actually turned out pretty funny. Or, most of them thought so. Freddie was too bitter toward Hutchins to be amused. But he had to admit, it was nice to be able to be in front of the camera for once. He set it up on a tripod in the back of the room, so he wouldn't have to hold it.

But the script ended up having a lot of humor at Freddie and Gibby's expense. Making them out to be stupid and unable to save the Princess. Freddie knew it was just a joke, but the whole thing bothered him, for more reasons than he could explain.

When they had finished the rehearsal Carly suggested they all go get smoothies together, but Sam and Jack had already gotten smoothies that day and turned down the offer.

"Freddie, Gibby, do you guys want to go?"

"No, thanks, Carly. My, uh, mom will be expecting me." Freddie didn't know what made him say it. Normally he would have been perfectly happy going to the Groovy Smoothie with Carly and Gibby. Today, he wasn't really in the mood.

0000

Freddie was in the school hallway the next afternoon putting some books away in his locker, when he heard loud laughter coming from down the hall. He looked up and saw Jack Hutchins and a bunch of his friends laughing as they walked along with their heads lifted high and confidence in their step.

Jack spotted a girl who was putting some books away in her locker. She wore large glasses and a long, old-fashioned skirt that was brown and old, with a frilly pink blouse. She was pretty new in the school and she got teased a lot. Freddie felt kind of bad for her but hadn't really known how to approach her, so he'd left her alone.

Now Jack nudged one of his buddies with his elbow, grinned and muttered something, before hurrying over toward the girl and leaning against the locker next to hers.

"Hey." He said, in a voice that was most definitely supposed to be flirtatious.

The girl looked surprised, and she blushed. "Hi."

"Your name is Rachel, right?"

"My name is Raylee."

"Ohhhh, right, Raylee, I'm sorry." He gave her a wide grin.

"N-No problem." Her voice came out in a squeak. Her cheeks were bright red and she was staring up at him with wide eyes.

He leaned down so his face was closer to hers. "I've been watching you today, and I wanted to ask you a question."

Her eyes grew even wider, her cheeks even brighter. "Yes?"

He leaned in just a tiny bit closer and said, in a mock whisper, "Does your grandma give you fashion advice?"

Raylee stared at him for a fraction of a second before completely registering what he'd said. But the moment she caught it Freddie felt sick just watching her. She blinked several times. Her mouth opened and closed as if she were searching for words that wouldn't come. He could see clearly that her eyes were growing wet and she was trying desperately to keep them dry. Her face was redder than ever.

Jack burst into hysterical laughter and walked away, back toward his friends. He spotted Freddie, and gave a slight shrug, then marched away down the hall, laughing as he went.

Freddie heard a locker door slam shut, turned and saw Raylee hurrying away down the hall. He ran after her.

"Raylee! Hey-Wait up!" He caught her by the arm. He felt anger brewing inside of him. He'd known Hutchins was a jerk, but he hadn't known he was that cruel.

"What do you want? To mock me? Laugh? Go ahead." She said, defensively, pulling her arm from his grasp and failing to fight back a tear that fell down her cheek.

"No." He answered, quietly, "Jack Hutchins is a jerk. I-I'm sorry."

Her eyes fell to the ground. "It doesn't matter. I don't care what he thinks."

"You shouldn't." Freddie said firmly, "He's mean to everyone, and anyway, letting it get to you is just giving him what he wants… You know?"

She shrugged. "I guess. I just really, really want to go home now so…" She turned to go.

"Right. I hope to catch you later!" He called, feeling awkward and unsure how to befriend this girl who seemed to need a friend so badly.

She stopped and turned toward him. "Hey, thanks—uh?"

"Freddie." He said, nodding and offering a friendly smile.

"Right. Freddie." He could see she still looked ready to cry, but he didn't press comfort on her. She seemed to just want to escape, and he didn't blame her.

Freddie made his way back to his locker, his mind reeling and feeling a little nauseous. The thing was, he did feel bad for Raylee, but that was just a small portion of his mind. The rest of it was consumed with this image that he couldn't force away. He could clearly picture Sam standing exactly as Raylee had been, with Jack Hutchins capturing her attention, her heart. Leaning close to her as if to whisper some sweet nothing or term of endearment, only to, instead, crush her under his foot. He could see Sam's face falling, Sam being too caught off guard to even be angry or violent. Sam crying.

And it hurt worse than anything he had felt in a long time. All he could think was that he wanted to warn her. To keep her as far away from Jack Hutchins as possible.

Because Freddie knew he would play with her emotions just as he had done to the other girl.

The thing about Sam was, that she was mean, she was rude, she was violent. But she wasn't cruel. She would make rude remarks and clever jabs, but the moment it went too far she'd feel awful, and she'd do just about anything to make it up to you.

He knew from experience.

Sam wasn't heartless. And Freddie was pretty sure Hutchins knew that. And all he could think was that he needed to protect Sam.

He needed to warn her.

**Author's Note: I hated writing this chapter, which is why it took me so long to update. I've had this sitting on my computer for forever trying to think of another way to go about showing what a jerk Jack is, but this seemed the best way to go about it. Please treat people with kindness, guys, I hated even writing Jack doing such a jerky thing.**

**Again, I'm sorry for the delay. I can't say I'm entirely happy with this chapter, but, I think it does what it was meant to do, says what it was meant to say. But it wasn't a fun one to write. Anyway, please review! Sorry again for the wait.**


	3. Chapter Three: iFight

**Author's Note: So, this is the first chapter from Sam's perspective, so, I hope it turns out okay! I started it from Freddie's point of view, but I just didn't think it was working as well. So there we are. **

**Also, it wouldn't be fair if I didn't warn you: If you are in the mood for fluff today, don't read this chapter yet. Not a cheery one.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly.**

**Chapter Three: iFight**

Monday afternoon, right after school, Sam got a text from Freddie. He was asking her to meet him at his apartment at four o clock. She didn't really know why he would want to meet her there, they were all going to Carly's for rehearsal later that night, and she thought whatever he wanted should be able to wait until then.

Her mind kept jumping to conclusions about what he could have to say. Her and Freddie had never been big on private conversations. She wasn't really his confidant, and he was not hers. So, unless Freddie had fallen in love with her over night or something (_Ha!_ She thought, _Likely!)_ then she didn't know what was going on.

The private meeting couldn't have anything to do with her putting hair dye in his shampoo bottle because he had already confronted her for that one. (She had been kind enough to use temporary dye, and now Freddie's hair was almost natural again, though in the right light it did still look a little purple.)

If she were going to be honest, even as she replied to his text with a 'maybe' she knew she would go. She was too curious not to. But because she didn't want to seem too eager, she decided to take her time getting there.

Sam finally showed up at his house a good hour after Freddie had asked her to, she pushed her way through his door holding a smoothie and a ham sandwich.

He raised his eyebrows at her.

"What?" She asked, giving him her best 'what's-the-problem' look, though she knew exactly what the problem was.

"You…Stopped for a smoothie and food?"

"Yeah?" She asked, like there was no reason that was strange. A small smirk appeared on her lips and she raised her eyebrows challengingly.

"Okay, then. Look, Sam, I've been wanting to talk to you about—"

"There's no hope for your nerdiness, Freddork. I'm sorry, it just can't be cured." She interrupted. She gave him a smug grin, stuffed the rest of her sandwich in her mouth, then pat him condescendingly on the cheek.

He sighed, "Sam, please, this is serious."

"What is it?" She asked, now feeling a twinge of concern. Had someone been hurt? Was he okay? Was Carly-?

"It's about Hutchins."

Sam stiffened. Of course, this was about him. Why hadn't she guessed that first? She folded her arms, and rolled her eyes. "You're going to tell me you don't like Jack, right? He's a bad influence and I should stay away from him, right?" She was sure she could predict every word of the speech.

"No! Well- I mean, a little, but—"

"Listen up, Freddifer, I don't need you to tell me who it's okay to be friends with."

"You think I don't know that?"

"Sometimes I wonder!"

Freddie took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a brief moment. Sam knew him well enough to be able to see the signs that he was fighting to remain calm.

"Please, just give me a chance to explain." He said, and she didn't stop him. She was actually curious about what he had to say about Jack. It wasn't exactly shocking to her that he didn't approve of the friendship. She knew for a fact that Carly didn't approve, but her friend had allowed it when she realized Sam was in no danger of falling for Jack.

Convincing Carly of this had cost Sam some of her pride. She'd been forced to tell Carly the name of the guy she _really_ liked, which effectively convinced Carly there was no way Jack could win Sam's love. The conversation had ended with happy shock on Miss Shay's part though Sam had told her about five hundred times that she couldn't tell anyone.

"But Sam! You should tell him and—" Carly had begun, but Sam had stopped her.

"No. Not happening. And you won't be telling him either, hear me Shay?"

Carly released a loud sigh, "But- you two would be so, so—"

"_No._"

And now, the very subject of her and Carly's discussion was standing here, ready to give her a lecture on her choice of friends. Sam wanted to think he was jealous, but that idea was so farfetched it didn't last long.

The story Freddie told her about Jack and that new chick, Raylee, seemed to justify Freddie's dislike of him. In all honesty, the story disgusted Sam, and she planned to bring that up with Jack later. That wasn't how she played the game. There was a line you had to draw. She thought she could control Jack, though, assumed she could get him to better direct his meanness, given time. She hoped so anyway, because when he wasn't being even more of a jerk than she was, he was actually a fun friend to be around.

Sam stared at Freddie for a long moment, before finally saying, "Yeah, well, just because he does stupid things sometimes doesn't mean I won't hang out with him. I put up with you, don't I?"

It had been an unnecessary jab, but keeping Freddie at arm's length was her best option at the moment. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that he was probably giving her this speech because, at least, some part of him cared for her, but mostly, she just felt angry. She wanted to yell at him that unless he wanted to be her boyfriend, he had absolutely no say in the people she hung out with.

"Sam! He has _fun_ hurting people! That's not just him making a mistake."

"Yeah, and so do I. So it should make sense to you that I'm friends with him!" That particular insult aimed at herself, and it had sort of come out by accident. It was scary to her that the words had slipped so easily, and so accidentally from her mouth.

"No, you don't. You're mean, sure, but you aren't cruel." Freddie's words could have been taken as a compliment or an insult. She knew, at least, he hadn't meant to be unkind. But at the moment she was in the mood to take everything the wrong way.

"Oh stop acting like you have some deep insight into my very being!" She spat, pushing back the guilt she felt on lashing out on him when he was so clearly just trying to help her.

He took a step closer to her, frustrated, "I _know_ you, Sam!"

She gave a bitter laugh, and she saw confusion and hurt cloud his eyes. He knew nothing. He didn't know that every night she fell asleep wishing that someone would love her. _That he would love her._ He didn't know that when she pranked him it was because she desperately wanted to be on his mind, for even a second, even for something bad. He didn't know that every time she won a laugh from him while they did iCarly she smiled whenever she thought about it for at least week. He didn't know that her favorite color being brown had more to do with his eyes than with gravy. He didn't know. And he never would. All of this passed through her mind in barely a second, because she'd thought them many times before. She replied to him quickly.

"You don't know me near as well as you think you do."

"I'm just trying to help! Okay? Why are you so stubborn that you can't recognize when someone is worried about you?" He said, throwing his hands up in the air, frustration filled the sound of his voice.

"I don't want your help! I don't need it! I'm not some little damsel in distress who needs your worry or who needs you to ride in on a white horse to rescue her from the 'big bad meany Jack,'" She finished with the sentence about Jack in a ridiculous baby voice. The speech was more for her own benefit then for his. She wasn't some little princess that he so desperately wanted to save. She wasn't delicate. She wasn't a daffodil. She was just Sam. And he would never get that. He would never want that. Something she needed to convince herself of soon so she could escape the way her heart skipped when she saw him.

"I never said you were!" Freddie said, obviously getting angry now.

_Good._ She thought. _Better if he's angry. _Then she could justify her anger too.

"It might surprise you, that despite your constant assurances otherwise, I'm not an idiot! I'm not hiding in some little hole fooling myself about Sam Puckett and her personality! You aren't some princess waiting to be rescued and I never accused you of it! But I'm sick of you being too ridiculously proud to accept help!"

Sam refused to show the amount of hurt she felt at his statement. "I don't need help!" She shouted, "It's not 'helping' me for you to tell me who to be friends with! What do you think I am? Eight?"

Freddie clenched his fists, she knew she was throwing her words with perfect aim, she could see him getting angrier by the second, and she was glad.

"You sure act like you're eight!" He countered, glowering at her. "I mean, seriously, when will you grow up, Sam?"

"Oh yeah, and you're sooo mature that you're mommy has to cut up your dinner into itty bitty baby pieces for you!"

"It's no wonder me and Carly constantly have to babysit you!"

Sam's eyes narrowed and she lowered her voice dangerously, "Babysit me?"

By now, she had, apparently, made Freddie too angry to see the warning signs of Sam's rage and cool down or apologize for his statement.

"You heard me." He said.

Hurt hit her hard and quickly turned to rage. Was that all she was to him? Some dangerous girl that needed to constantly be watched or she'd ruin everything? Did he really think that? –But she couldn't dwell on that now.

"Oh, _right._" She sneered, searching her mind for the most hurtful words she could bring forward. But nothing came.

Freddie frowned, he retreated half a step backwards, lifting his hands in a sign of surrender, before taking two careful steps back toward her. "Look, I didn't meant what I said, let's just-"

"Oh, be quiet!" She said, pushing away a hand that he had lifted to rest on her shoulder.

"Sam, please, I'm sorry I just—"

"You just _what_, Benson? You just want me to stop hanging out with Jack and be a good little girl and eat my vegetables and take my naps just when the babysitter says?" She said, her voice mocking and full of contempt.

"I just don't want to see him hurt you!" Freddie pleaded.

_You already did that for him._ She thought.

She smirked, "Ohhhh. You're jealous?" She mocked.

Sam saw his face harden, his defenses went up, and the anger started to come back. "Don't be ridiculous! Like I would—" He stopped himself, but Sam had already gotten the message loud and clear.

She had known it before, but it was another thing entirely to hear it from his own mouth. She felt like she had been stabbed. Why had she even asked?

"Phew." Came the sound of fake relief, her voice became casual even though her words were harsh, "It would be really annoying to be followed around by a dork like you. I don't know _how_ Carly dealt with it for so long."

"You know, a lot of girls really like me!"

Sam snorted, "Oh yeah? Who wants to be your girlfriend?" _Me._

"You know, when I asked you to come here, I was trying to do something nice for you. I'm _always_ trying to do something nice for you. While you are constantly knocking me down. What's your problem, anyway? Does it make you feel better to bash on other people? Do you have such lousy self-esteem that's built up on making my life miserable?"

He really hit the nail on the head with that one, Sam visibly winced, she knew he saw too because his face softened and a look of regret passed his face. He opened his mouth to speak but she spoke over him.

"Oh, boohoo. Poor Freddie Benson, the mean Sam Puckett makes his life so hard I don't even know how he bears it!" She rolled her eyes, "You know, it's really too bad we didn't have this conversation sooner." She said, in a tone of forced calm, "I can't stand you… You can't stand me… Think how much both of us could have been spared!"

"Sam, I—"

"No, no! Don't worry, I'm glad!"

Sam knew she needed to get out of there, and fast. She didn't trust herself near Freddie for much longer before she might not be able to keep at bay the tears stinging in her eyes. She turned and stalked toward the door, ripping it violently open.

"Sam! Come on! This is about Hutchins!" Freddie said, stepping toward her and reaching out as if to stop her.

She turned to face him again, "This stopped being about him a long time ago and you know it."

"Sam…" He stepped in front of her.

"Let's just both do each other a favor and stay out of each other's lives." She told him, pushing him out of the way so she could slam the door shut behind her.

As soon as the door was closed her eyes blurred with tears, she fought them as much as she could, furiously wiping at them to stop the tears falling. She knew if she ran down to the lobby and tried to get a bus, that Freddie would be able to chase her down. So, she held his door shut until she managed to stop her tears, and then pushed open the door to Carly's apartment, locking the deadbolt and the chain behind her.

"Sam?" Carly's voice sounded distant and blurred in a strange way. "Samareyouokay?"

"I feel sick…" Sam mumbled, which wasn't entirely untrue. She clenched her hand over her stomach so that it looked like she was ready to throw up. She felt an arm around her.

"You poor thing! Lay down on the couch right now. You sleep here tonight. I'll get you a pillow and blanket." Carly said, forcing her to sit on the couch before hurrying away.

Sam sighed and lay down on the couch and burying her face in the pillow, trying to think of something, anything but Freddie.

But every word he had said was echoing in her mind. Her brain had become a broken record player, and she could hear Freddie's voice tormenting her until she fell asleep late that night.

**Author's note: So, you probably won't believe me after I put you all through **_**that**_** argument, but I love you guys! Thanks for reading! Sorry for this completely miserable chapter. I did categorize this as drama though, so…**

**Please be sure to let me know what you thought, and any constructive criticism you have would be greatly appreciated! I want to learn. :D Please do review! Thanks!**

**God Bless :D**


	4. Chapter Four: iHave A Sick Friend

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly. I'd tell you, trust me.**

**Author's Note: So, you all still with me after that last chapter? I'm afraid the road is still going to be pretty bumpy before it can get better. Thank you all for reading and reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

**Also, this chapter kind of jumps around a little bit, but I hope it's okay. We get a little Carly perspective in this chapter. :D**

**Also, this picks up literally seconds after the fight.**

**Chapter Four: iHave A Sick Friend**

Freddie pulled at the door with all his strength, but Sam must have been on the other side holding it shut because it wouldn't budge.

"Sam!" He groaned.

He hadn't wanted it to go like that. He'd wanted to stop Hutchins from hurting her and in the process had said some really awful things. He hadn't meant to. But Sam's words had cut him quickly and brought him to his breaking point. As they had gotten older, Freddie had thought that he'd become kind of mature when it came to his responses to Sam, but all the sudden her insults got to him in a way they hadn't even as a kid.

They weren't just annoying or rude anymore it…It…. _Hurt._

He hadn't wanted to hurt her back. But he couldn't help but feel like she had picked that fight. Even if he should have ended it before it got out of hand.

He heard a door slamming across the hall and realized Sam had released her grip on the other side of the door. He pulled it open and rushed to Carly's door, but it was securely locked. He let out a loud frustrated sigh, and kicked the door, hard.

"Ouch! Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. _Ouch._" He said, gripping his foot in his hand.

He stood there in the hallway for a long moment, trying to decide what he wanted to do now. He seriously considered pounding on the door until Carly opened it up and then he would insist on speaking to Sam.

He had just lifted his fist to knock when his hand froze, and a thought occurred to him.

Hadn't the argument been started by Sam? Sure, he had said some nasty stuff, and he really did feel bad about it, but he had _tried_ to make peace and she had tried to start an argument. In the end, she was to blame. So why did he still feel guilt gnawing at his stomach?

Wasn't it _Sam_ who constantly insulted him? Wasn't it _Sam_ who considered 'beating up Freddie' to be the best possible sport? Wasn't it _Sam_ who made it her goal to make his life miserable all the time?

He was constantly looking after her. Because, for some, strange reason, he actually _cared_ about her. And for a long time he'd tried to convince himself that somewhere, deep down, she cared about him too. They were friends, weren't they? That's what he'd always really thought, but now…

Well, now he wasn't so sure.

With the way she treated him all the time, maybe they weren't friends. Maybe his affection for her was some twisted confusion. Maybe after years of abuse from her, he'd convinced himself there was something more to her. And maybe…Well, maybe there just wasn't. Maybe he was just a glutton for punishment. Because really, what sane person would stick around for years after all she'd put him through?

So, fine, he did care. Against all common sense, he cared about her. But he didn't need to sit there and just take chiz from her all the time. If she wanted to come to him and apologize for picking a fight, that was fine. Or, even, if at school the next day she wanted to pretend nothing happened, that would be fine too. He could forgive the fight. He could forget the fight.

But he could not apologize for it.

So with that thought in mind, he reentered his apartment, slamming the door shut behind him.

00000

After falling sleep on the Shay's couch, Sam awoke at 3 A.M. startling awake though she could not remember having a nightmare. (What had actually happened was about as bad as it could get for her at that moment.) Her eyes were sticky from crying herself to sleep, and her head pounded mercilessly.

She lay in the darkness of the apartment for some time. She could hear Spencer snoring loudly in the other room, and had to resist the urge to go beat him over the head with a pillow for keeping her awake. Her mind was still ringing with the sound of her and Freddie's fight, and her anger hadn't faded, but it was misery that was her prevailing emotion.

Sam finally sat up and slowly pushed herself to her feet. One thing was for sure. She would not go to school the next day. And that meant she needed to convince Carly she was really sick. She grabbed the tissue box Carly had left on the table and, one by one, tore out pieces of tissue, crumpled them up, and littered them over the floor and the coffee table, until there were only a couple left in the box.

She pulled the kitchen trash can beside the couch so it would look like she was ready to throw up at any moment. Then she was hungry, so she found the fat cakes Carly had buried in a cabinet, and stuffed one into her mouth, trying to ignore how completely unhappy she felt.

When she finished her snack she lay back down on the couch, and slowly fell into another fitful sleep.

00000

Carly found Sam sprawled out on the couch the next morning, her head hanging off the side and one leg propped up against the back of the couch. It couldn't have been very comfortable, but Sam appeared to be out cold. The area surrounding her was littered with Kleenexes and her eyes were puffy and red, while the rest of her face was extremely pale. She really did look sick.

Carly didn't want to wake her friend if she needed to spend the day resting, but she didn't know what to do. Should she stay home and look after Sam? Should she send Sam to her mom? There was no way her blond friend was getting to school that day.

"Sam?" Carly asked tentatively, reaching out to shake her awake.

Sam woke with surprising ease; Carly didn't even have to mention fried chicken one time. "Hmm? Whatzit?" She mumbled groggily, lifting her head an inch and looking around, squinting.

"Do you want to stay here today?"

Sam just nodded and dropped her head again.

"Do you want me to stay home and take care of you?"

"No. Go to school." Sam murmured, drawing her blanket over her head.

"I can stay Sam, really, it's no—"

"No. Just go. I'm fine." Sam said, with surprising clarity.

Carly hesitated but finally agreed, "Okay… But Spencer's here. I'll tell him to heat up soup for your lunch. Call me if you need anything, okay?"

Sam made a sound that must have been a noise of consent, or, at least, Carly assumed it was. She watched her friend guiltily for a moment before hurrying to get breakfast and get ready for school. She left Sam orange juice and crackers on the coffee table, but her friend had already gone back to sleep.

Carly left for school, still feeling reasonably cheerful, despite her best friend being sick on her couch. She was, of course, worried about Sam. She felt bad that her friend was sick, of course she did! But she had no reason to believe that there was anything seriously wrong physically or emotionally. Sam probably just had a cold or something, and would feel better after some rest.

She met Freddie outside her locker before class had begun, and he glanced around for a moment after he saw her. "Where's Sam?" He asked, curiously. If she hadn't known better she'd have thought there was a hint of apprehension in his voice.

"She's home sick." Carly said, and watched as Freddie's face fell.

Okay, that was sweet. That was really sweet. She fought back a smile. "She'll be alright."

"Yeah, I'm sure… Uh, I'm just going to head to class early." He said, before turning his back on her and hurrying away. She was confused, but decided to let him go. She could interrogate him about his odd behavior later.

Freddie wasn't the only one who noticed Sam's absence. Jack Hutchins approached her right after lunch to ask her where Sam was.

"Home sick." She told him, glancing around for Freddie. She hadn't seen him since earlier that morning when he hurried away, and now she was starting to wonder if there might be something going on beyond just simple worry for his friend.

Hutchins called her attention back to himself, "When you say, 'home sick' you mean she's playing hooky, right?" He smirked.

Carly frowned. "No! As if I'd encourage that!" She shook her head, "She's really sick."

Hutchins' smirk faded, "At your house or hers?"

"Mine."

He nodded and slung his backpack over his shoulder as he prepared to walk away, "Cool. I'll stop by later to check on her, then."

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea-"

"Catch you later, Carly." Jack said, walking down the hall and ignoring her last comment.

Carly frowned. People just _kept_ walking away from her in the middle of conversations. It was getting old pretty quickly.

00000

When Carly got home from school, Sam was awake, but she looked tired with dark shadows under her bloodshot eyes, and she was in an obviously bad mood.

"Hey, Sam. How do you feel?"

"Oh, I feel great! About as bright as the sunshine!" Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, as she stuffed a piece of ham into her mouth. "How do _you_ feel?"

"No need to get snappy." Carly said, her voice disapproving but patient, "Maybe you shouldn't eat a lot of that right now… Soup would be better." She suggested, tentatively, but the glare Sam gave her silenced her on the subject.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the couch…" She muttered, making her way to the kitchen for a snack.

She opened the refrigerator door to grab the carton of orange juice so she could pour her friend another glass, only to discover that Sam had the carton on the coffee table in front of her and had just been drinking out of it.

Carly suppressed an exasperated sigh and decided to just let it go. Her friend was sick, after all. She joined her friend on the couch and turned the TV on.

"Girly Cow?" She suggested to Sam, who only nodded in response.

They sat in silence for about half an hour. It had been a particularly long day at school, with a math test and a presentation to give in History, Carly was worn out. So, trying to start a conversation with a grumpy and sick Sam, who very obviously didn't want to talk, was not that appealing of an idea.

There was a knock on the front door and it opened. Carly looked up to see Freddie poking his head through the door, "Can I come in?"

"Of course." Carly said, getting to her feet and glancing at Sam who appeared to have fallen asleep.

Freddie stepped inside and glanced at Sam. When he saw her asleep on the couch, his whole countenance fell. Carly wanted to think it was all concern for their friend, but she was starting to think maybe there was something else going on between the two of them. But now didn't seem the right time to ask.

"How is she?" He asked, quietly.

"Fine, I think. Sort of in a bad mood, but I think she'll be better soon."

His frown deepened, "Right."

She couldn't resist anymore. "Okay… What's wrong?"

"Everything's fine. Is there anything I can do to help?" Freddie motioned to Sam. Carly was very aware of the subject change, but she let it go. Now wasn't a good time to argue with him, with Sam asleep right there.

"No. I think she's okay." Carly said, shaking her head.

"Okay, see you later."

"You don't have to leave, you know."

"Yeah, but my mom is waiting for me. I just wanted to drop in and see if she was okay."

"Okay…" Carly smiled, "See you later, Freddie."

"Yep. Bye." He said, his face still solemn.

Carly remembered Jack saying he might turn up later, and so, as Freddie walked out the door, she locked it behind him. She didn't want Hutchins barging in and waking up Sam. She didn't hate him, or anything, but she didn't think he was the best person to have around Sam when she was sick. She needed rest, and he would probably want to laugh and joke and tease. That wasn't a great idea right now.

She rejoined Sam on the couch, and when, a minute later, Sam's head lifted from the pillow and she rubbed at her eyes as if just waking up, Carly began to wonder if she had ever really been asleep in the first place.

Now she was sure there was something more going on than a little illness. Something had happened between Sam and Freddie, and if it didn't blow over soon, Carly would step in.

**Author's Note: So, this chapter took a little different direction then I expected it to. It was actually supposed to span a larger amount of time, but I really didn't want to rush over it, so I decided to save the rest of what was meant to happen for the next chapter.**

**I'd like to say, I think Freddie not apologizing was the wrong thing to do. But I also think Sam did the wrong thing as well. All I can do is beg you to excuse them both, because they are both hurting. Frankly, I'm on both of their sides in the argument. Sam was unduly rude to Freddie when he was just trying to help, but Sam is hurting from Freddie's 'rejection' of her. They are both sad. I hope you can forgive them.**

**Anywayyy. There was that long explanation. Please do review. I always appreciate constructive criticism, and I love to hear what everyone thinks!**


	5. Chapter Five: iChanged The List

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly. : )**

**Author's Note: Thank you so much for all your reviews and for reading this far. It means a lot to me that you all even care enough and would take the time to keep reading. :D**

**And sorry guys, another hard chapter ahead of us.**

**Chapter Five: iChanged The List**

It wasn't until a few days later that Carly knew for sure that she would have to step in and deal with whatever was going on between Sam and Freddie, and she would have to do it _soon._

"I'm too sick." Sam groaned, she was lying, sprawled out on her bed, her face covered by a pillow, and was apparently unwilling to move. (She'd decided to return home when Jack and Freddie kept showing up at Carly's to visit her.)

"What do you mean you're too sick?" Carly asked incredulously. "The last time you were sick on an iCarly night, I had to force you to rest! And you're way better now than you were then!"

"I feel like I'm dying." Sam mumbled.

Carly had had enough. "No, you don't!"

Sam's head snapped up. "What?"

"You aren't sick! You're upset. And I know it has to do with Freddie—And don't try to deny it!" Carly added quickly, when Sam opened her mouth to object. "Every time he came to visit you when you were at my house, you pretended to be asleep! I've been with you all day, and you have yet to throw up, sneeze, or complain about a headache even once. You always complain!"

"I do not!"

"You're not sick, Sam!"

"I can't do iCarly tonight! Next week I will, okay? I promise!"

"No. You have to! What am I supposed to do if you aren't there?"

"Call Jack. He's funny, he can take my place."

Carly shook her head quickly. "No- Sam!"

"I don't want to go, alright? I don't want to talk to him! I don't want to be near him! I don't want to _look_ at him!" Sam burst out, hoping if she just said it Carly would let it go. But this was Carly she was talking about.

"I knew it!"

"Congratulations!" Sam's voice dripped with sarcasm and she pulled her pillow back over her head.

Carly sighed, she sat down next to Sam and said, more gently then before. "Please tell me what happened, Sam."

There was a long silence, but Carly knew better than to break it.

Finally, Sam spoke. "Me and Freddie aren't friends anymore."

Carly sighed, but was not ultimately surprised. The two fought all the time. But, then, this did feel different. Sam had never been so upset before that she would hide out for days. The fight must have been bad. Whatever had been said or done must have really hurt her.

"Sam…"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Sam! You two need to work this out!"

"That's enough."

"Sam!"

"Let's go do iCarly." Sam scrambled to her feet, before Carly could stop her, and flew out the door.

00000

Carly had a list. This list was made up of the top ten most awkward, boring, or just plain bad iCarly episodes of all time. It included things like the time when Spencer somehow caused the camera to burst into flames, or when she had visited her granddad in Yakima and Freddie had tried to co-host with the weird robot short. This list, in all its terrible awkwardness, existed so that the iCarly trio could learn from their mistakes and, hopefully, not repeat them.

And a new episode had just been added to that list.

Things had started out fine. If you ignored the icy silence between Sam and Freddie before the show began, and the stiff, fake smile plastered on Sam's face for the first five minutes on air.

Then, they were doing this skit about two girls discussing an elephant they had hidden in the basement. After the sketch was over, Carly had faced the camera with a grin and stated, "Now, we don't _really_ have an elephant hidden in the basement! That would be hard, seeing as we don't even have a basement! Right, Freddie?"

"It's true. As much as we wish we did have one—" He paused, grinning at the camera which he had turned to face himself. "-We don't have an elephant."

"And _now_-" Sam said, her voice casual and cheerful, as if just continuing her usual banter. "Get that camera off your nubby face so the fans can see us, Freddork!" Despite the laughter in her tone, the look on her face was hardly cheerful.

"Sam!" Carly scolded, halfheartedly. This wasn't unusual for the two, of course, and normally Carly wouldn't have even bothered to stop it. But she knew how furious the blond was at Freddie, and that this was not just cheerful teasing.

"Some of the fans happen to like my face, Sam!" Snapped Freddie, and that was it.

"Yeah, the _blind_ ones." Sam retorted.

"You know what I think?" Freddie asked, pushing the camera into Carly's hands so he could stand in front of Sam.

Carly was too busy watching anxiously to think to turn off the camera or go to an emergency pre-recorded video.

"Woah! Wait! Notify the press! You _think_ things?" Sam asked, feigning shock.

Freddie stepped closer to Sam, pointing at her as he spoke again, ignoring her comment, "You know what I think?"

If Carly had been watching a movie she would have expected the two of them to drop the argument and kiss each other. But she quickly shook the thought from her mind.

"What do you think?" Sam asked, folding her arms and giving him an incredulous look.

"I think you love my face and you just make fun of me because you can't have me." Freddie smirked at her.

Carly almost dropped the camera.

Sam let out a bitter laugh, "Oh please! That's wishful thinking if I ever heard it." She raised her voice into a mocking tone, "'You just make fun of me because you can't have me!' Who do you think you are, anyway? Batman? Please." Sam gave another mirthless laugh.

Freddie's unusual confidence faded away as quickly as it had come and he took a step away from her. "What is even _wrong_ with you? You're such a jerk! Why do we even put up with her? Why?" He exclaimed, turning to Carly.

Carly's eyes widened. She did _not_ want to be dragged into this. "What? I—Freddie, don't—"

"Ha! You talk big, Benson. Great job. Well done." Sam's voice was low and vicious as she glared daggers at Freddie.

Carly finally came to her senses and turned the camera to herself. "Obviously we're, uh, having some issues with the show tonight. I'm really sorry guys. Uh. Sam and Freddie will be fine—"

This statement was accompanied by a snort from Sam, who tore open the studio door and stormed out before Carly could finish speaking.

Carly gave her voice a tone of fake cheer, saying, as brightly as she could, "And this has been iCarly!"

She turned off the camera quickly and she and Freddie stared at each other. Awkwardness hung heavily in the air around them.

That was definitely going on the top of the list.

00000

Not long after the disaster that was that week's show, Sam was walking back home in the darkness. The street lamps in her neighborhood flickered ominously, but she was used to the creepiness by now. Besides, she could take anyone in a fight who might challenge her, so usually the place didn't bother her much. The walk home wasn't that bad, really, and she was used to it.

But that night, Sam was especially jumpy. She kept wiping determinedly at tears that somehow kept falling from her eyes, and every time they did it made her more and more angry.

Suddenly, her phone rang. She jumped, startled. She didn't look at the caller ID, she was sure it was Carly calling to try to talk to her about what had happened.

She answered it, "Listen, Carls, I don't want to talk about Freddie, alright?"

"Oh good. Me either."

"Jack?"

"Hey, Puckett, what's up with you and Benson, then?"

"Nothing," Sam said, irritably, "What do you want, Jack?"

"_Someone's_ grumpy." He sounded amused. "This have anything to do with how much you don't want to talk about Fredward, then?"

"Shut up, Hutchins. What do you want?"

"Nice attitude, as usual, Sam." Jack said, and Sam could practically hear him smirking through the phone. "Heard you've been sick, tried to drop by, but Carly said you didn't want visitors."

"I didn't."

"But I'm an exception, right?"

"In your dreams." She snorted, fighting a slight smile now.

"So, anyway, you're not sick anymore, right?"

"Uh, right." Sam said, she supposed she couldn't really fake it anymore. Not when people had seen her on iCarly.

"That's cool." Jack said, and paused for half a second before continuing on in a way that made Sam think he wasn't really all that concerned about her health. "So, Puckett, I've got a proposition for you."

"Yeah?" She asked, a little suspiciously. But she was curious.

"You. Me. Senior Prom."

Sam was too surprised to even laugh, "Wait, what?"

"Well," He corrected himself, chuckling, "I'm an old Junior since I've failed so many times… But, _your_ senior prom. Whatdyah say, Sam?"

Now she gave a small laugh, "I didn't think prom was really your style, Hutchins."

"Nah, it's not. But you and me? We're a dream team. We could cause so much trouble. C'mon, Sam, it's not like I'm asking you on a date."

"You're not?" She smirked, giving her tone just enough skepticism so he would be able to tell she was amused.

"Not unless you want it to be." He said, and she could hear him grinning.

"Oh, get over yourself. Anyway, prom isn't really mama's thing."

"You sure you just don't want to go because you're too hung up on Benson?"

Sam froze. She stopped walking and clenched her free fist, holding the phone more tightly in her other hand. "I am not!"

"Then go to prom with me!"

"Prom sounds boring. I don't want to go."

"We'd have fun, Sam! Just think about it."

"Fine." She agreed, rolling her eyes. "I'll think about it, but don't get your hopes up." She said, hanging up, and smiling slightly.

00000

"…And that's what happened." Freddie finished, with a long sigh as Carly paced back and forth in front of him.

He sat in a beanbag chair with a hand over his eyes, as he finished explaining his entire fight with Sam to Carly. He'd tried to summarize it, but Carly wouldn't take half-answers. She wanted the whole story.

Carly was at a loss for words when he finished speaking. Something that didn't happen to her a lot. "I just—" She stopped, "How can—" She frowned, "What were-"

Freddie watched her apprehensively, knowing that in a moment her powers of speech would return to her with full force.

"How did this all happen because of Jack Hutchins? I just—I—I! No. This isn't about him, though. Freddie!" Carly groaned, "_Why?_ You know this is why she's been playing sick all week and not coming to school and why the only reason she came to do the show tonight was because I wouldn't stop interrogating her until she did! Freddie!"

He sighed. "I know, it's bad, but—"

"But, what? I thought you cared about Sam!"

Freddie stared at Carly, insulted, "Of course, I do! Of course, I care about Sam! How could you even say that? This wasn't _all_ my fault, you know!"

Carly took a deep breath, sitting down in the bean bag chair next to his. "I know…I'm sorry…"

"I mean, I was trying to be nice to her! She was the one who got all mad in the first place!"

"Freddie… I know… but… You have to apologize to her. You have to make things right." Carly said, her eyes wide and pleading.

"No. I won't. Why should it always be me? Why can't Sam ever apologize first?" He demanded. He was tired of dancing around Sam, trying to keep her happy when he just couldn't. It was impossible.

"Because you know she never will! If you want to work things out with her, it has to be you! She's stubborn! She'll never speak to you again!"

Freddie was silent for a long moment. He almost gave in. He wanted to be friends with Sam again, of course, he did! And the idea of not speaking to her ever again terrified him on levels he couldn't exactly understand. For some reason, he felt like he really _needed_ Sam in his life. But that realization, rather than encouraging him to go ahead and apologize, made him want to wait for her to apologize more than ever.

If these…These odd feelings that he was starting to feel toward her were anything real, anything important, then Sam needed to work things out too. Sam needed to start putting some effort into their friendship. There had to be something more to her than the way her eyes sparkled, and the way even the sound of her voice made him smile. That wouldn't be enough. She needed to be willing to communicate with him if there was ever a chance of them being anything more than friends.

Wait, more than friends? _What are you thinking?_ He scolded himself. _A relationship with Sam? _The thought had just appeared, seemingly, out of nowhere, and yet, it didn't feel as foreign to him as he would have expected.

"Sam can apologize to me when she wants to. And I'll even say I'm sorry when she does. But I'm done making the first move. I'm done being her punching bag while I sit and give her thing after thing to make her happy, when she doesn't even have the decency to apologize!"

"But you really hurt her, Freddie!"

He blinked, feeling stung. He knew that. He didn't need to be told. To be reminded of the pained look he'd seen on her face during their first fight, before she had pushed the hurt aside.

"And what about me? Does it not matter that she hurt me, too?"

"I didn't say that! But—But—it's different!"

"How?" Freddie demanded.

"Because Sam's in love with you!"

**Author's Note: So…Was it okay? I'm not sure.**


	6. Chapter Six: iCall It Quits

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly.**

**Author's Note: This chapter begins immediately after the last one ended. :D It isn't set from any one character's perspective, and it kind of switches back and forth, but I hope it's okay. :) Thanks for reading!**

**Chapter Six: iCall It Quits**

Carly slapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide.

Freddie's jaw dropped, "_What?_"

"Nothing, I—"

"Carly."

"She loves you." Carly sighed, admitting defeat. She'd been caught. There was no use hiding it now.

"How do you know that?" He asked, skeptically. Something about the idea of Sam loving him was terrifying, and strange, and _wonderful_. And he really didn't know when that had become something he felt. He shook his head. He just couldn't like her. Not Sam. He couldn't. It was impossible.

"I…" Carly hesitated. She couldn't tell him that Sam had told her. Sam would be furious. More than furious… _Humiliated_. And Carly couldn't do that to her best friend. "I just know!"

"You can't 'just know' something like that!" Freddie said, his shoulders dropping in what might have been disappointment.

"Yes, I can!"

"Did she tell you?"

"She didn't have to!"

Freddie took that as a no. Why did he wish Sam had said something to Carly, anyway? Why did he suddenly sort of like the idea of being with Sam? Why did he think that, maybe, he could love her? Maybe they were perfect-

Woah, wait, what? He frowned.

"Carly, look, I don't know what gave you the idea that—"

"Sam loves you, Freddie!" Carly insisted, desperately.

Freddie got to his feet. "That's why she yelled at me, said she never wanted to be around me, and has made my life miserable for years? If she loves me, she has a funny way of showing it!"

"She's Sam! She has a funny way of showing everything she feels!"

Freddie shook his head, "I can't, Carly. I can't have this conversation. I'm really sorry, I know you're just trying to help." He hurried toward the door, "I'll see you later, okay?"

"But Freddie!"

"Bye." He waved, and was gone.

Carly sighed, slumping in her seat with a frown on her face.

0000

The beginning of the week was horrible. There were several occasions when both Sam and Freddie ended up in her house and she was forced to choose who could stay, because they refused to be in a room together for longer than a minute. She kept trying to get them to talk to each other but nothing worked, and she was starting to get worried. The two had never had any fight like this before.

Towards the end of the week, though, some semblance of order had finally been established. Sam and Freddie would alternate days in which they got to hang out with Carly. Freddie would have her one day, and the next Sam would. Carly hated this plan, but it was the only one both of them would agree to. As far as iCarly went, rehearsals ceased to exist. Instead, Carly and Sam would get together and plan the show one day, Carly would inform Freddie of their ideas the next day and find out what was possible as far as special effects and tech stuff were concerned. Freddie and Sam agreed that on the day of iCarly, they would tolerate each other long enough to run through the show _once_ and then go live, and then whoever's day that was got to spend the rest of the evening with Carly.

The first iCarly under this new plan was awkward, and not very funny, but did show marked improvement from the week before because Freddie and Sam were actually too furious at each other to even yell. It was quiet before they started filming, and even when they did, Carly could sense Sam's lack of enthusiasm, and she wasn't feeling particularly chipper either.

The next day, Carly knew she wasn't the only one who thought things hadn't gone well. She read the comments on the website, and the majority came from disappointed fans, who were wondering about the lack of good (or appropriately ridiculous) humor in the episode, or noticing Freddie's icy silence from behind the camera.

Monday was Sam's day to be Carly's friend that week, and they met at their lockers before lunch. "What's got you all grumpy?" Sam asked, her voice sickeningly calm, considering the situation. She'd approached Carly with a comfortable, "Hey, Shay!" to which Carly had responded, "Don't 'Hey, Shay' me!"

"What's got me all grumpy?" She asked, testily. All the stress was really wearing at her nerves. "_Maybe_, what's got me _all grumpy_, is that my two best friends can't be in the same room as each other long enough to film a _good_ episode of iCarly, which, by the way, I'm practically planning by myself these days!"

"I helped!"

"If by 'helped' you mean ate things out of my fridge while _I _came up with ideas because you were too upset about Freddie! And? _And!_ I got on the website this morning and apparently all our fans have figured out something's wrong. So maybe what's 'got me all grumpy' Sam, is you and Freddie!"

Sam took a deep breath. "You know, if Benson wants to apologize to me, he can just feel free." Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"Or you could apologize to him!"

"No way."

"But you love him!"

Sam snorted, lowered her voice, and pulled Carly to a corner to talk in with more privacy. "I don't love him! I liked him for a little bit and now I can't stand him. What's so hard to believe about that, huh? And I'm _not_ apologizing."

"But he was just trying to help you." Carly pleaded, wanting Sam to understand that Freddie cared.

"Well, if he really wants to help me, he has a funny way of showing it, doesn't he?"

00000

Three weeks had now passed, and Carly had given up hope. She was stressed and tired and miserable, all because of the fight between Freddie and Sam, and they were both too angry to realize how much pressure their ridiculous argument had put on her.

By now she was planning every iCarly episode on her own, and her friends had gotten into at least four huge shouting matches when their assigned 'Carly Days' got confused.

One night she was spending the evening studying with Freddie, who was trying desperately to help her so she wouldn't fail any of her classes. Lately school had taken a back seat to all the other drama in her life, and she had fallen badly behind. Spencer had practically forced Carly to take the time to ask Freddie to help her with homework, and as Spencer didn't act the adult very often, Carly thought she had better listen to him.

But then Sam burst into the room and tossed a pillow and bag to the floor, "Out, Benson, I need Carly tonight."

Freddie got to his feet, "No, it's my night to hang out with Carly. You know that." He replied, relatively calmly, all things considered.

"Yeah, well, mom and I had a little argument and now I need a place to sleep. Do _you_ have a place to sleep? Because I'm pretty sure you do." She folded her arms.

Freddie debated whether or not he should argue, and was just about to give in and leave when Carly let out a noise of frustration.

"Are you two ever going to be friends again because I—I just can't!" She threw her arms up, "Do you realize how stressed I've been trying to balance separate friendships with both of you _while_ trying to organize iCarly? You know, it'd be really great if you two could just get over your issues and _apologize _to each other, but if not, I need to know right now!"

There was a long, strained silence. Sam could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she watched Freddie from across the room. This was the test. The moment to see if he really cared. The moment to find out if he really did want her out of his life forever. She held her breath, too angry, too hurt, and too scared to apologize herself. She desperately hoped he would. And with each second that passed she felt more and more sick.

Freddie wanted to apologize. He wanted to be friends again and take away the strain that had been there for three weeks. He missed her teasing, and he missed seeing her smile, he missed laughing with her and even her laughter at his expense. He missed _her_. But he wasn't twelve anymore. He wasn't willing to get down on his knees and beg for her, or any other girl, for that matter. He was tired of pleading, tired of begging. For once, he wanted someone to come to _him._ He wanted someone to think _he _was worth the loss of pride it would take just to say '_I'm sorry_,' and if she couldn't do that, then so be it.

When the silence stretched on for a good three minutes, and no one had said a word, Freddie decided to go ahead and put Carly out of her misery. He gave his head a slight shake.

Sam felt like her heart had been dropped and then stomped on.

"I'll just go home." Freddie said, shrugging. "It's getting late, anyway, my mom will want me."

He was halfway across the room before Carly spoke, and stopped him.

"If you two can't work things out—" Carly said, in a strangled voice, "Then—Then let's just end the show. I can't keep planning it only to have you two glare at each other the whole time. It's not _fun_ anymore, for us or for the fans. Let's just quit it."

There was another short silence in the room.

"Fine." Sam said finally, blinking the moment her eyes started to sting.

"Alright, then." Freddie said, his hands shaking at his sides. He crossed the rest of the room and was out the door in a second.

Sam looked at Carly who pointed at the stairs instantly, "Go upstairs and don't come down! I'll meet you up there in a minute." Her voice was firm, but she was obviously upset.

This was one time when Sam was more than happy to obey. She walked slowly across the room and then ran as soon as she reached the stairs.

Sometime during the conversation, Spencer had entered the room. He stared at Carly with wide eyes. "Carly…?"

She burst into tears and flung her arms around her brother.

"There there…. It's okay…." He said awkwardly, stroking her hair. He couldn't help but feel frustrated at Sam and Freddie for what they were doing to Carly.

"It's…It's….Over…" She cried, hugging Spencer tightly.

"They'll work it out and then you can start the show again…" He responded, reasonably.

"But they won't!" She said, wiping at tears that continued to stream from her eyes. "Because—Because they're both so—so selfish…" She sobbed.

"It'll be okay, Carly…" Spencer told his sister, holding her close.

00000

Freddie had been standing outside the door, letting what had just happened sink in. He'd heard Carly and Spencer's conversation, and he did feel terrible. He was upset about ending the show just like Carly was. He would miss it, of course he would, but it did seem like the smart choice. Why should they keep doing something that was only making all of them miserable? With him and Sam not speaking to each other it was pretty much impossible to film a good show, so what was the point?

And yeah, maybe he should have been willing to apologize to Sam. But he didn't want to be the 'friend' she dragged along just for Carly's sake. He wanted to matter. And obviously, he didn't, since she wasn't even willing to apologize to him. He didn't want to hang out with her knowing that he was just _tolerated_. It wasn't fair to him.

So maybe he was being selfish, but there wasn't a good alternative. Until Sam apologized, there was nothing he could do.

In the meantime… He needed to move on with his life. He could make other friends. He could meet other girls.

Whatever insanity he had been feeling in the past couple weeks, Sam was _not_ the girl for him.

And he would keep on telling himself that, even if he had to do it about a hundred times a day.

00000

Sam collapsed at the top of the stairs as soon as she escaped Carly's sight. She hurt on so many levels, and she rested her head against the wall, too sad to even cry. She clenched her fists together as tightly as she could, as if that would somehow make her feel better. She closed her eyes. It hurt that Freddie so obviously didn't care about her, when for years she'd held onto the hope that someday they might have _something._ It hurt that now they had to end the show that was seriously important to all of them. And, as if the rest wasn't enough, it hurt to hear that she had pretty much ruined her best friend's life.

But what could she do? If Freddie hated her, then fine. She wouldn't change to please him. She couldn't do that. Sure, maybe she should be a nicer person, maybe she shouldn't beat people up or insult people all the time. But if that was the case, she would change because _she_ thought it was the right thing to do. She wouldn't change herself into a little sweetheart, Carly-Number-Two, just so that Freddie could handle being in the same room as her.

It was just so…Awful and weird that after all this time it had come down to this.

_But whatever,_ she thought, _It's time to get on with my life._

**Author's Note: I'm really sorry for the late update. That was a hard chapter to write, I hope it was okay. I kind of wonder if I rushed it, but changing it would take a long time and I wanted to let you guys read it… **

**If you are all thinking 'Ah! Bad Sam and Freddie! Just apologize to each other!' I guarantee I'm right there with you! :)**

**Also, I've read a lot of 'Sam and Freddie fight' fics, because, let's face it, there are a lot out there. (Because Sam and Freddie fight a lot, heh.) That being said, if there are any striking similarities between this story and others it was completely unintentional, I apologize, and please point it out to me so I can fix it. 3**

**You're all wonderful. Thanks for reading.**

**God Bless. :D**


	7. Chapter Seven: iMove On

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly. (Or any other shows mentioned in the chapter.)**

**Warning: If you are taking this 'last week of filming iCarly' thing as badly as I am, you should REALLY not read this chapter until you feel better. The first part of it I wrote before I found out and…yeah… You've been warned.**

**Seriously, please don't read if it will make you too sad. :(**

**Chapter Seven: iMove On**

"…And anyway, we're Seniors now. Next year, we'll all be heading off to college. We were going to have to say goodbye soon, anyway. And who wants dragged out goodbyes?" Carly sat on a tall stool, in the middle of the iCarly studio, looking at the camera sadly as she spoke. Sam sat on a stool next to her, silently. "We have been so, _so_ grateful for you guys. There have been some crazy times. There have been wars at Webicon, kidnappings, and more fires than I can count but…I wouldn't trade it for a million dollars. iCarly has meant so much to us. _You_ have meant so much to us… I wish it could go on forever." Carly's lip trembled, and Sam thought she should take over.

"So, I guess we'll just say, one last time…" Sam said, glancing at Carly.

"I'm Carly." She said, wiping quickly at her eyes.

"And I'm Sam."

Together they said, "And this has been _iCarly_."

Sam lifted her remote into the air and hit the top button, causing the '_Random Dancing!_' sound effect to echo through the studio, as she jumped to her feet and started dancing. Carly joined in, dancing and grabbing Freddie from behind the camera and Gibby and Spencer who were standing nearby, all of them dancing together one more time.

Finally, Freddie broke free from the group, made his way behind the computer, and ended the broadcast. Turning off the flashing lights, music, and sound effects, his voice broke slightly as, for what he knew to be the last time ever, he said, "And w-we're clear."

An eerie silence fell over the room, and after a moment Sam turned to the door, since it was Freddie's turn to be Carly's friend, she was ready to get out of there as soon as possible.

"Hold it, Sam," came Carly's objection, which was surprisingly forceful. "You two can just get over your drama for a minute because I deserve a group hug."

Sam hesitated, then sighed and stepped toward Carly.

"Freddie?" Carly asked.

"Yeah, okay." He nodded, looking sad.

Sam stepped forward and hugged Carly, she felt one of Freddie's strong arms encircle her and saw the other wrap around Carly. Gibby and Spencer joined the hug too and for a single moment, Sam allowed herself to believe everything was okay.

But then the moment was over. The group hug broke apart and Sam mourned the loss of Freddie's arm around her and the end of iCarly and the loss of a friendship with the boy she loved.

They all stood there, wrapped in a long silence, that was only broken when Sam's phone rang loudly. She pulled it out of her pocket, looking at the caller I.D. she sighed and answered it.

"Hey, Jack." As she turned to leave, she thought she saw Freddie's frown deepen.

00000

"Dude! And then the Lego ship exploded! It was JUST like a scene from Galaxy Wars!" Gibby was telling Freddie, motioning wildly as he did so.

Freddie grinned, "That's awesome!" He groaned, shaking his head, "Ah, I wish I could have been there."

"It might have been the best moment of my life. We still going to that movie later?"

"Yeah, man. We should meet at—"

Just then, Freddie saw the girl, Raylee, whom Hutchins had teased weeks earlier. He hadn't really run into her since then, and had been meaning to talk to her. He still felt bad about how Jack had treated her.

"Hey, just a second, Gib." Freddie said, approaching Raylee who was standing at her locker. "Hey!"

She had seen him coming and gave a small wave, "Hey! Freddie, right? The decent guy." She gave him a warm smile.

He chuckled, "That's me. Freddie, The Decent Guy, Benson. How've you been?"

Raylee smiled, "If you were worried, I haven't been permanently scarred by Jack Hutchins' jerkiness."

He was really glad, but the memory of that occasion just brought back thoughts of his fight with Sam, and he thought the smile he offered Raylee must not have totally reached his eyes. "Well, I'm glad to hear it." He told her, with a nod. "Hey, me and my friend Gibby are going to see this movie later, if you wanted to join us?"

"Oh." Raylee glanced over Freddie's shoulder at Gibby. "You two are friends, huh?" She asked, her voice pleasant but an odd look on her face.

"…Yeah?"

Raylee shrugged and looked back at him, smiling. "Sure, sounds fun. Thanks! What movie?"

Freddie realized he should have told her what they'd be seeing before. She probably wouldn't want to come when she knew.

"That new documentary about the changes of technology used in Science Fiction films and TV shows. The one featuring Galaxy Wars and Doctor Who and all that."

"Oh! That sounds awesome! I've really wanted to see that one!" Raylee responded excitedly.

Freddie blinked. "What?"

Raylee grinned, "Yeah! It looks really cool! What? Girls can't like nerd stuff?"

"N-No, they can- it's just-just…I'm surprised." He finally said, shaking his head.

"So, what time?"

"Right after school?"

"Cool."

"See you then," He said, shrugging and smiling.

As he turned and walked away, it occurred to him that he should have tried to be friends with Raylee before. She seemed really cool, and like the kind of person he could easily get along with. He didn't know how they'd never spoken.

Needless to say, he was pretty excited about going to see the movie.

And not just because it had been given 4.5 stars by the Galaxy Wars fan club at school.

00000

Sam was proud to say that she had not thought about Freddie for two hours straight.

Until, of course, she realized that she hadn't thought of Freddie for two hours straight, and, therefore, had thought of him.

_Ugh._

It was a couple days after they had ended iCarly and Jack had been surprisingly thoughtful, in his own way.

She had told him that she didn't want to be around people and she just wanted to be alone, but he had insisted they hang out. It was Jack's goal to distract her for as long as possible so that she wouldn't have time to be upset about iCarly, and it was sort of working.

Sort of.

They'd pulled pranks on at least five different kids in school and Jack had supplied her with numerous insults to use on Freddie. They had just finished watching a horror movie, during which they had muted the television and supplied their own dialogue.

It had been…Shockingly fun. And Sam really appreciated the amount of effort Jack was putting into making her feel better.

And Freddie had said he was bad for her.

As the credits of the last movie played, Jack turned to Sam. "Okay, Puckett. You never gave me an answer."

"Yes, that shirt _is_ nerdy."

"I'm not a nerd!" he looked affronted.

"Kidding. What's your question, anyway?"

"Prom."

"No."

"_Saaammmm_."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because _prom_ is boring, and lame, and requires dressing up like nubs."

"You know what I think?" Jack asked, folding his arms and smirking.

"What do you think?" Sam asked, leaning back in her seat and biting into a fat cake.

"I think if Benson asked you to the prom, you wouldn't hesitate to go."

Sam nearly choked on her snack. She coughed, "_What?_" She grabbed him by the collar, "_What_ did you just say?"

"Sore subject, Puckett?"

"I would never—Ew! You disgust me." She let go of him, pushing him as she did. He looked unfazed.

"Look, I didn't mean to make you mad. Just go to the prom with me. I promise you'll have fun, and if you don't, I'll buy you a bunch of meat, alright?"

"…Any meat I want?" Sam asked, raising her eyebrows.

Jack grinned, knowing he was on the right track now. "Any meat you want."

"…Deal."

"And, it will be a great way to make Benson jealous."

"Watch it, Hutchins."

00000

Freddie, Gibby and Raylee had a great time at the movie, and Freddie really did like hanging out with Raylee. He didn't think they'd ever be best friends, at least not the way he was (or had been, he remembered painfully) with Carly and Sam, but it was still a nice change to have a new friend in his life.

They exited the theatre, and Raylee said enthusiastically, "…and the changes of special effects over time? Brilliant!"

"Yeah! And now I want to go watch that one show… What was it?" Freddie asked, his voice eager.

"Stargate." Raylee supplied, nodding. "I've heard good things."

"Dude, that show has like, two spinoffs, and the original ran for like, ten seasons!" Gibby informed him, "It would take forever to watch all of them."

"Really?" Freddie asked, glancing at Raylee, who was suddenly watching the ground intently, her enthusiasm having, apparently, disappeared.

Freddie frowned, confused.

"Seriously!" Gibby replied, not appearing to notice the sudden change in Raylee's demeanor. "There are tons of them!"

"Then we should have marathons!" Freddie suggested, shrugging off Raylee's strange behavior. "We could all hang out a couple times a week and watch a few episodes!"

Raylee nodded, suddenly grinning again, "That sounds really fun! My dad is a baker! I can bring dessert!"

Gibby's eyes widened slightly, "Your dad is a baker?" He asked, staring at her.

Her smile faltered, "Uh-, yeah." She answered, shrugging.

"How's his apple pie?"

"…He can make just about everything." She replied, slowly.

"Okay, yeah, I'm in." Gibby nodded firmly.

"Great! How's Friday night for you guys?" Freddie asked cheerfully, though inwardly feeling confused.

"Sounds good to me." Raylee responded lightly.

"Me too." Gibby agreed. "So long as Raylee brings pie."

Raylee gave an awkward laugh. "I'll bring pie."

Freddie was really excited to be having something to do on Friday night. Lately, he had taken to sitting alone on the fire escape at night, trying to make sense of his feelings toward Sam. Feelings that, no matter how hard he tried, had remained stubbornly romantic over the past few weeks. It was really starting to concern him.

Having a distraction would be good. Great, in fact. Because no matter how much he missed her and wished they could be friends again, he definitely wasn't in love with Sam. Not a chance. No way.

Right?

**Author's Note: I know this chapter is short. I'm sorry about that. But I have good news! Read on if you don't mind SLIGHT spoilers! Things should start to look up either in the next chapter, or the one after, depending on how things go. :) But soon! Soon!**

**In the meantime, honest opinions on Raylee? I'm really curious!**


	8. Chapter Eight: iHave A Plan

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly or Stargate which is also mentioned in this chapter.**

**Author's Note: Hey, friends. I'm really sorry for the super late update. I've been really busy. Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**Chapter Eight: iHave A Plan**

Sam had begged and pleaded with Carly to please, _please_ not make her go dress shopping. But Carly had insisted. She'd called it tough love. Carly knew she would never be able to bring back a dress that Sam would approve of (surely, she'd pick something that was 'too girly') and there was no way she would allow Sam to skip prom.

"I'll just go in sweats and a Penny Tee and call it good!"

"Sam," said Carly, looking at her friend and letting out a loud, exasperated sigh. "This is our _Senior prom_." She emphasized, "_Senior._ That means _the last one_. And that might not be a big deal to you, but it is to me. So pleaseee." It was Carly's turn to beg, and she was about a million times better at the puppy eyes than Sam was. "It would make me _so_ happy to have this chance to go dress shopping with my best friend. Please."

Sam looked away, not wanting to be convinced by Carly's pleading stare. "Who are you going with, anyway?"

"Phillip."

Sam rolled her eyes, with a short laugh. "Of course, Phillip asked you to prom. Of course the captain of the football team asked you out."

"No! Not Phillip Stevens!" Carly said, shaking her head quickly, a dreamy expression crossed her face. "Phillip _Avery_!"

Sam stared at Carly as if she had just said she was going to prom with a seagull. "What? Seriously? You're into nerds now?"

Carly slapped Sam's arm, but it was a slap from Carly, so it really didn't hurt. "Don't call him that! He's so sweet." She smiled, leaning back in her chair and staring in the distance for a moment before her eyes snapped back to Sam. "And before you overreact, I'm not interested in _your_ nerd."

Sam stiffened. "I don't know what you're talking about." She said, in a voice that clearly warned that if the topic was pressed, she might just explode.

"Of course you don't." Carly changed the subject, not wanting to make Sam mad. "Anyway, with you hanging out with Jack and with Freddie hanging out with Gibby and that Ra—" Carly froze, corrected herself, and tried to go on as if she hadn't said anything odd. "And Freddie hanging out with Gibby, I've had to talk to some new people. And Phillip is _so_ sweet, Sam. I really like him!"

Sam had caught Carly's almost-mention of the girl, Raylee, that Freddie had been spending an extraordinary amount of time with. Sam had been watching. She'd noticed. She just quite stubbornly pretended not to care. And she told herself over and over again that she didn't care. She didn't care that this girl might be Freddie's perfect dream, brunette, nerd-girl, who got all his nerdy references and even _liked_ to listen to them. She didn't care at all.

Except that she did. She cared a lot.

But, about Carly's prom date, it made Sam smile that her friend liked Phillip so much. As much as the constant attention Carly got sometimes made Sam feel frustratingly inferior (especially when that attention came from a certain tech nerd best friend.), she was really glad Carly had found someone she genuinely liked, and who would probably stick with her. Phillip seemed loyal, anyway, from what Sam had seen of him.

"Well, you would've done better with Phillip Stevens but, hey, Avery's okay... If you like boys who smell like Cheetos all the time." Sam said, so she wouldn't have to voice her actual thoughts. Being nice wasn't her strong point.

"He hasn't smelled like Cheetos in two years, and you know it!" Carly said, offended.

"Sorry! Sorry." Sam said, though she looked amused.

"Sam, why are you going to prom with Jack?" Carly asked, finally. She tried not to sound accusing, but that boy was trouble, and she was still harboring some hope for 'Seddie', even if the two weren't currently speaking.

"Because he offered to get me meat." Sam answered. _And there's no way Freddie asks me, _she thought.

_Is there?_

_No. There definitely Isn't._

"Well, I can't stop you. And I _do_ want you to go with somebody. It would be better if it was Freddie but—"

"Carly." Sam said, drawing out the 'ar' and 'ey' in a warning tone.

"I know, I know! It's just…" She sighed, frustrated, "I'm allowed to talk about it, okay? You two are my best friends and maybe you aren't meant to get married or ever be together but…I miss having you both around." She paused. "Do you think you'll ever talk to him again?"

Sam was furious with herself when she felt her eyes stinging with the threat of tears. "Sure. As soon as he's ready to apologize."

00000

Sam had caved. She had gone dress shopping. And it had been… exhausting. But she'd gotten an enjoyable lunch at the mall food court. And, while shopping hadn't stopped her from thinking of Freddie, it had, at least, kept her from sitting at home and wallowing in self-pity. Which she recognized was not exactly a healthy option.

And so, she'd tried on dress after dress after dress after dress. Sam hadn't known there were so many different kinds of dresses before. And she hadn't realized it would take such a long time to find one.

But, finally, after looking for what felt like a thousand years… Sam found a dress.

And, well, she actually liked it.

It was a blue color that reminded her of a lightning storm, like clouds and rain mixed together. It was long and simple and flowed to the floor.

When she tried it on, it was the first time she could think of that she actually felt like it might be nice to dress up for the dance. Even if her and Jack were only going as friends.

00000

Freddie had a plan. Admittedly, it was a flawed plan. But it was more of a plan than he'd had yet. His plan was this: to go to school on Monday and just be super nice to Sam. Ridiculously nice.

It was not in his plan to apologize.

He was going to be so nice that _she_ would have to apologize to him.

Okay, yeah, it was a bad plan. But he was getting pretty desperate. He'd tried to forget, and he'd tried to move on, and he'd tried and tried and tried.

But there was no denying it now.

He cared about her.

So why couldn't he just apologize?

He pushed the thought away, shaking it off like it was nothing. _She has to apologize first, h_e told himself for what felt like the thousandth time.

00000

When Freddie approached Carly's locker during lunch period, he found Carly and Sam standing there, just as he'd suspected.

"Walk away, Benson." Sam said, narrowing her eyes when he stopped in front of them.

"Hey Sam. Hey Carly." He said, cheerfully. "You two both look lovely today." He said, looking at Sam.

The blonde's eyes narrowed. Carly's eyes widened.

"Uh, hey, Freddie. What's up?" The latter of the two asked, finally.

"Nothing. Just wanted to say hi." He shrugged and turned to go. He didn't want to annoy Sam. He wanted to win her over. He didn't want to force his friendship on her.

"Peace offering!" He called to Sam, tossing a fat cake package over his shoulder. He heard her catch it and grinned, before hurrying back to the cafeteria to join Gibby and Raylee.

00000

Freddie passed the rest of the week trying to do random, little, nice things for Sam. The problem was that she wouldn't accept his gifts. Carly had told him she'd actually thrown away the fat cake, something that was almost unheard of for Sam. He'd brought her bacon that she wouldn't eat. Ham, even. And he was pretty sure bringing her flowers wouldn't do any good, either.

So, he'd tried different tactics; Offering to carry her backpack or her books, or offering to give her a ride home from school.

Rejected.

Even though he had been getting more and more discouraged, he had been determined to keep trying.

…Until he talked to Carly at the end of the week.

"What are your plans for prom?" She'd asked him, trying to move away from the topic of Sam. She'd figured out by now what Freddie was trying to do, and the fact that it wasn't working was obviously really bothering him.

"I'm not sure, I guess." He shrugged. "You're going with that Phillip guy, right?"

Carly smiled brightly and nodded, but her smile faltered a moment later and she looked at him with concern. "But you should really go Freddie. It's-"

"-Yeah, I'll go." He said quickly, then added as casually as possible. "Who's Sam going with?"

Carly hesitated. "Um…." She said, uncomfortably. "Well, you see…"

"Carly?"

"She's going with Jack!" Carly blurted.

Freddie should have seen it coming, but it still made him feel awful. "Oh. Right. Of course." He managed, swallowing.

"Freddie…"

"I'll see you later, Carly, okay?" He said, hurrying away.

"Freddie!"

00000

Freddie found Raylee after school that day, out in the parking lot where she was waiting for her dad to pick her up. "Hey, Raylee!" He called.

She turned and waved to him. "Hey, Freddie! What's up?"

He jogged the rest of the way across the parking lot toward her and said, after a moment, "I…Had a question for you."

"Sure, what is it?" She asked, looking at him.

"Uh…" He hesitated, scratching the back of his neck. "Do you… I mean… Do you want to go to prom with me?" He asked, his words coming out in a blur.

She blinked.

"Just as friends!" He added quickly, "Not as a date or anything… Not that you're not great- It's just… I mean, it's only fair to say…" He was doing a really bad job of this, he thought, and he shook his head. "I just mean, I'm sort of interested in this other girl… But I really like hanging out with you…"

Raylee chuckled, rolling her eyes. "So, why don't you go with this other girl?"

"She's… Sort of already got another date."

There was a short silence.

"Just as friends?" Raylee asked him.

"Just as friends!" Freddie reassured, quickly.

"Um… Can I think about it?" She asked, slowly.

"Sure," He shrugged, he wondered what was up, but didn't ask. "Just let me know."

00000

Raylee called the next day and told Freddie that she would, in fact, go to prom with him. As friends. The 'as friends' was emphasized by both of them quite heavily, and Freddie was completely fine with this. Sure, he wasn't exactly excited about the dance, but he would have a nice time with Raylee.

There was no real problem with the plan until he talked to Gibby later that day.

"Dude!" Gibby objected, when Freddie told him about his plans for prom.

"What?" Freddie asked, confused.

"Nevermind." Gibby got a sort of half-angry, half-sulky look on his face.

"Gib?"

"I mean, you know I like her!" Gibby burst out.

Freddie stared at him. "No! How could I?" He wouldn't have asked Raylee out if he knew Gibby liked her!

"It's not obvious?" Gibby asked, with a look of a confusion on his face.

"No!" Freddie said, shaking his head.

"Oh… That's good." All GIbby's previous anger seemed to have vanished and he sighed sadly. "It doesn't matter, because she hates me anyway."

Freddie wanted to object, but as far as he could tell, Raylee did kind of seem to at least dislike Gibby. He'd never been able to figure out why, but she definitely did seem to have some kind problem with him.

"Look, man, how about I try to talk to her about you? We're just going as friends."

"You'd do that?" Gibby asked, looking up.

"Of course, man. What're friends for?"

**Author's Note: I'm going to be really busy for about three weeks, so it may be some time before I update. I'm really sorry. And I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up, too. Things have been really busy, but I meant to update earlier anyway, I'm sorry.**

**Also, I was in a bit of a hurry editing this so that I could finish in time. So, I'm sorry if it wasn't very well done.**

**Thanks for your understanding. :D**

**God bless.**


	9. Chapter Nine: iShould Have Known

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

**Chapter Nine: iShould Have Known**

Sam stared at her reflection in the mirror and shook her head slightly, "I don't know about this, Carls…"

"Calm down, Sam!" Carly called from the bathroom. A moment later she came through the door and nodded at Sam, smiling. "You'll be so glad you went!"

"Uh huh. Sure."

Sam was dressed in her blue gown, her hair tied back in a half pony-tail with two ribbons acting as hairbands across the top of her head.

Carly looked at her phone, and her smile grew wider. "Phillip will be here in five minutes! You said you're meeting Jack at the school, right?"

"What?" Sam asked, distracted. "Oh, yeah. Right."

"Sam… Would you please try to talk to Freddie tonight? It's been months!"

"I'll see you there, alright?" Sam said quickly, unwilling to discuss Freddie.

Carly sighed. "Spencer said he'd drop you off, okay?"

"Sure thing. Have fun, Shay."

00000

A short time later, Sam climbed into the front seat of a car Spencer was borrowing from a friend of Socko's.

As they drove, Sam realized that she wasn't completely dreading the evening. It wasn't completely horrible being all dressed up this one time, and anyway, Jack was pretty fun to be around, she would at least have a decent time.

And if she didn't, he'd promised to buy her meat.

She would, probably, have to endure seeing Freddie with another girl all night, but if that became too unbearable she could just leave.

"Where's your date?" Spencer asked, as he stopped the car just outside Ridgeway's main entrance.

Sam shrugged, "He's never on time to anything. He'll show up eventually. Thanks for the ride." She said, climbing out of the car.

"Yep."

"See you."

00000

Freddie had been allowed, to his surprise, to borrow his mom's car. He had promised to be very careful and to call her when he had safely arrived at the school, both of which were pretty reasonable requests.

He picked Raylee up at her house right on time, and they spent the first five minutes of the drive in silence, something unusual for them.

"Hey, Ray?" He asked her finally, his voice breaking through quiet car.

"Mm?" She asked, looking out her window as they drove.

"Why do you hate Gibby?"

"What?!" She sounded startled.

"Come on... I know you have some kind of issue with Gibby. So, what is it?"

"No! I…I…," She stammered, "Of course, I don't!"

"Ray?" He was skeptical.

"I promise, Freddie, I don't hate Gibby!"

"So, why do you act so weird around him?" He demanded, feeling they were good enough friends by that point to have that sort of conversation.

"…I act weird around him?"

"Well…Yeah! Every time he says anything you get all awkward and cold." Freddie was surprised she had to ask.

"Oh." She said, her voice sounded small.

"…So, are you going to tell me why?"

"I don't want to." She said, her words squeaked with nervousness.

"Okay…" Freddie said awkwardly, he didn't want to press her, but he really wished she'd just say it. As things stood, he was really confused. Unless…

"Wait!" He grinned, "Do you like Gibby?"

"What?!" She sounded as startled as she had before. "No! I-uh!-" She sighed, "…Yes."

"This is great!" Freddie answered, just as he pulled into the school parking lot and stopped the car. "Gibby likes you too!"

Raylee's eyes widened. "He does?"

"Yeah! Look, Ray, let's go in and find Gibby, okay? He doesn't have a date. You should spend the dance with him."

"But, Freddie, you—"

"Will be perfectly fine. Seriously, it's okay!" He said, enthusiastically. Sure, he didn't really love the idea of spending the dance by himself, but he could always just go home.

"…You're sure he likes me?"

"Yeah! He told me so."

"Okay. If you're really okay with it," She said, grinning.

"Hey! As long as you two aren't gross all the time, it's perfectly cool with me."

She laughed, "Alright, then."

00000

Sam had waited outside for forty five minutes before she suspected anything. Jack was always late, after all. But, then, she'd never known him to miss out on too much of a party.

She held her phone in one hand so she could keep track of time. Suddenly, it beeped. She looked down to read her text.

**Jack**: lol :P

She stared at her phone with something like horror. That jerk had been playing her this whole time! And she had let him! She, Sam Puckett, had been fooled!

And she was mad.

She sent him a reply, typing the letters angrily.

**Jack**: lol :P

**Sam**: You. Are. In. HUGE. Trouble.

It took her longer than usual to write the message. She kept making mistakes. Finally, though, she managed to send the text.

After that, she didn't know what to do. She was too humiliated to call Spencer and ask for a ride home. But she knew she didn't want to stay here. She would take a bus, she decided.

She was just turning down the lane when she heard her name called by the last person in the world she wanted to see.

"Sam!"

00000

Freddie left a smiling Raylee inside with a cheerful Gibby, and then wandered out of the school. He figured he could just go home and finish his homework early…

And then he saw Sam hurrying away across the parking lot. It was half a second before he realized what must have happened, and knew he needed to follow her.

"Sam!"

She'd just been turning the corner when she stopped, frozen in place.

"Go away, Benson."

"Sam…"

"I said go away!" She yelled, turning to face him.

The thing was, most people probably would have heard her shout and mistaken her tone for anger, but Freddie knew better. She was upset.

"He didn't come," Freddie wasn't asking her a question; rather, he was stating a fact.

Sam's hands were clenched into fists, and they shook. It took a moment for her to reply. "Go ahead."

"What?"

"Gloat. Mock me. Go right ahead. I'm not scared of you."

He took a step toward her. "I don't want to gloat."

She flinched, but stood her ground.

"I'm sorry," He said, feeling all the fight go out of him. He cared about Sam. They fought, they yelled, they tortured each other. But he cared about her. And he was tired of fighting her.

"I don't want your sympathy," She snapped.

"No. Not about Hutchins," Freddie shook his head. "_I'm sorry_, Sam."

She stared at him. "You're sorry?"

"I'm done fighting. I'm sorry for what I said. I'm sorry that we've gone this long without talking. I'm just _sorry_."

Sam was quiet for a long time. "I forgive you."

Freddie hadn't known he'd been expecting an apology, but as soon as she spoke he felt a groan ready to escape him.

But then, almost inaudibly, she said. "I'm sorry too."

Freddie grinned. "I forgive you."

A small grin appeared on Sam's face as well.

Freddie opened his arms as if to offer a hug, but Sam just laughed and smacked him on the arm.

Her laughter faded and then there was a short silence.

"So, your date will be waiting." Sam said awkwardly, shrugging.

"Nah, she's with Gibby."

Sam almost laughed with relief, but managed to just smile, "Seriously? Good for them."

He chuckled. "Yep. So, I've been abandoned and so have you…"

"Smoothies?"

"Sounds about right." Freddie grinned.

**A Note: I'm so, so, so, so sorry about the wait. Thank you for your patience. And thanks for reading! I appreciate you all greatly, even if I haven't done a great job at showing it. I really am sorry. I hope this chapter was okay, and am really thankful for you. And please do let me know what needs work and how I could improve! Thank you so much!**

**God bless you!**


	10. Chapter Ten: iMissed This

**Disclaimer: I most definitely do not own iCarly. **

**Chapter Ten: iMissed This**

Carly did not know what she felt. She could fly, she could dance, she could sing. But then, she could yell, she could pout, she could glare. She was such a mixture of emotions that when Sam entered the apartment Saturday afternoon, Carly could hardly form a sentence.

"Why didn't you—You should have—Phillip is so wonderful I can't even—I just- Ugh!"

"Uh, you okay there, Carls?"

"Why didn't you show up for the dance?!" She spluttered finally.

"Oh… About that…," Sam shrugged. "Well, for one thing, Jack stood me up."

Carly's jaw dropped, but before she could respond the front door opened again Freddie entered. "Hey Carly, hey Sam!"

Carly blinked, feeling more confused than ever. "Freddie, you can't—," She glanced at Sam, "It's her day to hang out here. We agreed Sam could have two days this week and you could have two next!"

"Did we?" Freddie glanced at Sam and smiled lightly.

"Yeah, out of here, AlFredo."

A frown passed across Freddie's face, but Sam half-smiled, and Freddie's frown vanished when he saw it.

Carly had been too long torn between her friends to immediately register what was happening, not to mention she was so flustered that her brain felt like it was about to explode from excitement and annoyance.

"Nah, you know what? I think I'll stay," Freddie dropped into a seat on the couch and reached for the TV remote.

"You!" Carly pointed at Freddie, "You didn't come to prom either! _Neither_ of you stayed at prom with me!"

"Yeah, well," Freddie glanced at Sam, aware that she must not have had a chance to tell Carly that they were friends again, "Raylee and Gibby both like each other, so I let them spend prom together. I didn't have a date."

"You don't _need_ a date to have fun at prom, you know!"

"And you didn't need us there to have fun, either!" Sam said, shaking her head and smiling. "I'm sure you didn't even notice we weren't there for a good two hours. So busy staring into Phillip's eyes."

Carly knew Sam was making fun of her: she ignored it, "You both abandoned me! Why?"

"I was thirsty. And the nerd was willing to get me a smoothie so…" Sam broke off, shrugging.

"Wait, what?" Carly looked between the two of them. "What nerd?"

"That one!" Sam said, waving one arm in Freddie's direction.

"You mean…," Carly looked between the two of them, and it finally clicked. Her eyes stung, and she blinked. "You… You two are…," She swallowed, wondering if she was dreaming. "You two are friends again?"

"Yep, we sure are." Freddie said, grinning.

Sam thought back to the night of the prom. The ride to the Groovy Smoothie had been a little bit awkward. Neither of them quite new what to say to the other, not after months of anger.

Finally, Freddie spoke, "Sam, you look really nice—"

"Don't." Sam interrupted, glad she was facing the window and he would not be able to see her burning cheeks.

"Just trying to pay you a compliment." He said, mouth twitching to a smile.

"You can pay me a compliment by getting me a smoothie."

"Fair enough." Freddie chuckled.

There was silence again, and Sam didn't like it. She wouldn't say it out loud, but she desperately wanted to make up for the months of silence between them. She didn't want to waste time. She wanted to be back to where they were, if never more. But she was scared that wouldn't be possible.

"So, how does it make you feel that Gibby stole your date?" She grinned, her voice was lighthearted.

Freddie chuckled, "I'm okay with it."

There was another short silence.

"I'd rather be drinking smoothies with you, anyway."

Sam grinned, feeling relieved. "I get it, Freddums. You're in love with me." It was wishful thinking, but she laughed to disguise the hope in her voice.

"That's what you're going with? I think you've gotten rusty with the insults, Sam."

"Yeah, well, I'm all out of practice."

Sam was brought back to the present, suddenly.

"We need to do something fun! You know, to celebrate!" Carly said, with enthusiasm.

There was just a short silence before Freddie spoke up. "How about we do an iCarly?

Carly and Sam were both silent for a moment. Carly's eyes welled with happy tears. Sam stood silently. That sounded great, but it almost seemed like a possibility that was too good to be true.

"Yeah… But we don't have anything planned." She said, slowly and after a pause.

"There's time for that." Freddie said, his smile full-fledged now. Sam thought, suddenly, that Freddie seemed really happy to be friends again. She found herself smiling now, too.

"I love you two," Carly's voice was high and weak. "Thank you for being friends again."

Freddie thought about the visit to Groovy Smoothie. When they had ordered their smoothies, another short silence fell between them. At first, Freddie felt frustrated. He wanted things to be back to normal. Then, it occurred to him it was only normal things should be weird now, but Sam was willing to be his friend again. He smiled at her.

They small talked for a couple of minutes, and then Freddie said suddenly, "I think we need to talk about it, Sam."

She didn't pretend not to know what he meant, which he had almost suspected. "I don't want to talk about it."

That response did not surprise him. "You don't have to say anything. I'm not mad. I just wanted to tell you something." He paused. "If… That's okay?" He spoke nervously.

"Go for it."

All his resolve from before that he needed to be the strong and proud one, and that she needed to apologize first faded and he said quickly. "I don't feel like I have to look after you, okay? At least, not in the way you think."

"Tell me that in a month when the charm wears off."

"No, I mean it. I'm not saying that a bunch of what I said wasn't wrong, because it was. But I've realized something after all this time. And it's this, for all the joking and making fun that happens between us, all the rude comments and fights and insults, all of it… I care about you a lot, anyway. You are my friend. And I didn't try to warn you about Hutchins because of anything but that I didn't want you to get hurt."

"Yeah, I shouldn't have been so defensive." She wasn't making eye contact with him, and that didn't surprise him. This wasn't normal for them.

Another short silence followed. Freddie wanted to reach across the table and take her hand, but he didn't.

"I know I make fun of you all the time and everything." Sam said, finally looking up at him. "And I probably won't stop. You aren't really that annoying though." She shrugged slightly, as she finished. "You're kind of cool."

"Seriously?" Freddie hadn't expected that much, and he didn't hide his grin.

"Yeah, well, I said kinda."

He chuckled, then his expression sobered slightly. "Can I ask you something else, before we go back to going without serious conversations?"

"What?" Sam said.

"_Did_ he hurt you?" As Freddie looked at Sam , he noticed the relative calmness of her expression. He hadn't seen that look on her, not really, in the last few months. He didn't dare hope that he had much influence over her feelings, at least not as much as she had over his, but he realized now that _he_ had hurt her. _He, _Freddie.

"Nah, I'm angry at the guy. I thought he kind of liked me." Sam shrugged, and Freddie must have made a face because she added quickly. "Not like that! I just mean, as friends, I thought he liked hanging out with me. Didn't think he'd try to pull one over on me. I guess I'm a little upset, but it's not like…"

_Not like what I did_, Freddie thought.

"Not like I'm really torn about it."

"Good," Freddie said, examining his hands now.

"I could've apologized sooner." Sam said, her tone casual, but Freddie recognized that her words were not casual. They were important.

"Me too." He said, looking up at Sam. He felt a little sad. Happy, too. It was bittersweet. They were friends again, and he was thrilled about it. He knew this was great. He also knew that this conversation, important and deep as it was, was not their norm.

Truthfully, he was really glad, when he thought of it, that they could talk like this. He just also wished that someday, they could laugh together again too.

"I have a proposition." Freddie said, "From now on, whenever you are rude to me and I am rude to you, we'll remember that we're friends who care about each other, and that the other doesn't mean it."

As his thoughts returned to the present, he smiled.

Carly and Sam were already hurrying up to the studio to start coming up with ideas for the show, and as he followed behind, his smile didn't fade.

**Author's Note: I have so many things to say, but I don't want to make this note very long. I don't know if anyone is reading this who started reading when I posted the story so long ago… If you are, I am sorry I have been unable to post sooner. It has been an incredibly long time. I'm not sure I even know how to do this anymore! I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to write this chapter.**

**And thank**_**you **_**if you are reading. Whether or not you are new to the story or have been so patient. **


	11. Chapter Eleven: iWon't Lose This

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly or Stargate, which is further mentioned in this chapter.**

**Chapter Eleven: iWon't Lose This**

The response to their iCarly episode was positive, and the team was eager to continue filming new episodes. Spencer and Gibby had been happy about Sam and Freddie's healed friendship, of course, and had enthusiastically taken part in the web series filming "festivities".

One night, when Carly had gone out to dinner with Phillip, Sam had to decide if she was too proud to ask Freddie if he wanted to hang out, but she decided that maybe they were past the point in their friendship where pride needed to get in the way. So she called him.

"Hey, Fredson, wanna hang out? Carly's on a date."

"Oh. Well, I actually told Gibs and Raylee that I would watch a show with them tonight. It's kind of tradition. But, hey, if you wanna come…"

Sam hesitated, "What, uh, what show?"

"Yeah. It's kinda… nerdy. It's Stargate. You'd probably hate it…"

"Probably." Sam said, hesitating. She really didn't want to hang out alone all evening. "But... I might…"

"I'll buy you ham if you come." Freddie interjected quickly.

"Really?"

"Sure! I'll pick you up, okay?"

"I can take the bus."

"Nah. No big deal."

"Alright. See you, nerdbrain."

"See you… punk?"

"Nice try. Not real clever."

0000

The group watching Stargate welcomed Sam enthusiastically, and Sam had an okay time. She wouldn't admit to any pleasure she took in watching the show, but she didn't mind it either. Freddie felt it necessary to explain the different plot points to Sam. Who the aliens were, what the character backstories were, and so on.

Afterwards, he dropped her off at her house, and when she was safely inside her room she finally let herself think about how happy she was about their friendship. Sure, it felt weird to be nice to each other, and she didn't stop saying rather rude things, just to act normal, but they seemed to have this understanding in their friendship now. Like, _they_ were best friends too. They weren't just mutual friends of Carly's.

Carly was happy too, and she wasn't always hanging out with Phillip. She spent a lot of time with Sam and Freddie, giggling every now and then out of joy at the fact that they could all spend time together again. It wasn't that Sam wasn't still herself around Freddie, it was just that she extended more courtesy to him than she used to. More of the kind of less-mocking-courtesy she had always extended to Carly, because they were best friends and Carly could be…sensitive. She had to try to be a little bit rude to Freddie, just for the sake normalcy, but it was less often.

The thing was, the more time she spent with Freddie, the more she liked him. She had, of course, liked him before. But she was starting to realize that when they actually tried to get along, it kind of worked. It began to seem like a relationship between them could actually last. The more she felt that way, though, the less she wanted to say something. It felt like their relationship was like a broken piece of porcelain that had finally been glued together, and while the drying glue was getting stronger, a relationship could break the porcelain all over again.

Which meant that she was determined to keep her mouth shut about her feelings. She couldn't tell Freddie. Not for the sake of pride, this time, but for the sake of their friendship.

Once or twice Carly commented on the fact that Sam and Freddie seemed to be getting quite close, a smug grin spreading across her face. Sam would just shrug it off, not wanting to talk about it.

Meanwhile, Sam was laughing, unconsciously, at more of Freddie's bad jokes. And he was grinning at more of Sam's antics.

0000

One day at school, Carly, Sam, Freddie, Gibby and Raylee, were walking down the hall together. Jack Hutchins jogged up behind them and fell in step beside Sam,

"Hey, Puckett."

Sam said nothing at first, her eyes narrowing. Freddie, who was watching carefully, fully expected Sam to beat up Hutchins at any moment.

"Look, don't tell me you're still mad."

"I'm not mad." Sam said, shrugging and continuing to walk. Everyone in the group was listening carefully to the conversation.

"Oh, that's great!" He said, with a laugh, "I knew you wouldn't be mad."

"What did you think I'd be? Crushed? Heartbroken?" Sam asked with raised eyebrows.

Jack laughed, "N…No. I thought it would be funny, you know!"

"Haha." Sam said, without a trace of humor. "Look, Hutchins, I'm tough. I'm not mad, cause I don't care."

"Great." Hutchins said, sounding confused.

"But I don't want to see you messing with _anybody_ else, less tough than me. You hear Hutchins?" Sam said, turning to face him.

"Uh… I hear. Gotta go."

Freddie smiled slightly, watching the ground.

"What are you grinning about?" Sam asked.

"Nothin. Let's get to class."

0000

One day, after filming an iCarly, Freddie had told Sam he would walk her to the bus stop, seeing as his mom needed the car and he couldn't drop her off at her house. He had started driving her back since they'd become friends again and his gentleman attitude made him unwilling to make her take the bus home, normally.

"Could be dangerous." He'd said.

She didn't mind the excuse to hang out with him.

On this particular occasion, he couldn't drive her back, but wasn't willing to let her walk the five yards out of the building to the bus stop alone either.

They were laughing about some joke, before Freddie had become suddenly serious.

"Hey, Sam, can I ask you something?"

Sam hesitated, thinking about broken porcelain and the fragile state of their friendship. She tried to laugh.

"You don't have to. I can tell you now, that was a hilarious episode of iCarly."

"Come on, Sam, aren't you going to actually listen to my question?"

"What is it?" She said, fear welling up inside her chest.

"We've gotten really close… Haven't we?" He asked, watching her for her reaction.

"Yeah."

"Do you ever think…" He broke off, "I just mean…Don't you think that there might be something…else…between us?"

It felt too risky. She could say yes, that she could be in love with him. They would feel happy for a while. Really, very happy. But then, they might break up. Then they might stop speaking again and Sam wasn't ready. Not again.

She swallowed, hard.

"Something else?" She looked at him, returning the question. Wishing he would understand what she was thinking, so that she didn't have to hurt him, and so that she didn't have to say it.

He didn't answer, he knew she understood what he was saying.

"Freddie I…" She paused, trying to collect her thoughts. She didn't mean to stay silent for long, but it must have been long enough because he spoke again.

"Never mind, forget it." She knew he was hurt, but he didn't sound angry. "Look, if you take the bus you'll have to walk back to your house in the dark. Let me pay for a taxi for you."

"No, I'll be fine." She shrugged.

"I'm buying you a cab, Sam."

There was one of the yellow vehicles at the curb and Freddie opened the door for him.

Sam suddenly hugged Freddie. She didn't hug people much and she let go quickly, she just wanted him not to feel rejected…But not to feel accepted either. She couldn't accept. She got into the taxi, avoiding looking at him.

He seemed stunned. He paused for only a moment, then he shut the taxi door behind her. He opened the passenger door in the front to pay the cab driver, then shut that one too, and walked back toward Bushwell plaza.

Sam watched him, wondering if she had made the right choice.

**Author's Note: I hope you all have a wonderful, blessed Easter!**


End file.
